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Sebi penalty of Rs 2.5 lakh on 3 officials of Orchid Chem

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 30 November 2012 | 23.25

Market regulator Sebi has imposed a total penalty of Rs 2.5 lakh on three senior officials of Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals for alleged violations of insider trading norms.
    
In three separate orders, Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on Madhusudhan Rao Bidurukontham and U P Senthil Kumar, and another Rs 50,000 on Rajendra Janardhan Sarangdhar.

Also read: Orchid Chemicals directors Bharat D. Shah & Deepak Vaidya resign
    
While, Bidurukontham was the Chief Operating Officer - Global Generics, Senthil Kumar served as Senior Vice President, Betalactams (Process) and Sarangdhar was the Senior General Manager (PD Lab & Production), at Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, Sebi said in orders dated November 29.
    
Following a news article on September 18, 2010 on Ranbaxy planning to sell its balance 13.02 per cent stake in Orchid, Sebi conducted a probe into the trading in the shares of Orchid Chemicals.
    
The probe revealed that all the three entities had violated norms pertaining to prohibition of insider trading. s per the norms, all directors/officers/designated employees who buy or sell any number of shares of the company shall not enter into an opposite transaction -- sell or buy any number of shares during the next six months following the prior transaction. They can also not trade in the stock futures of the company at any time.
    
While Bidurukontham has been accused of both trading in the stock futures of the company and opposite transactions, Sarangdhar had allegedly entered into opposite transactions and Senthil traded in the stock futures of Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.
    
In its order against Bidurukontham and Sarangdhar, the regulator observed that senior officials are expected to be aware of major developments in the company they are employed with.
  
"Thus for orderly conduct of securities market, it is of utmost importance that such persons should not be doing buy and sell transactions in the shares of that company at short intervals but should have a long term view".
    
In it order issued on Senthil, Sebi noted that directors/ officers/ designated employees are senior functionaries in company who should be aware of the requisite legal provisions and follow the same scrupulously.



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KTM eyes Indian bike mkt with plans to roll-out 3 models

Global motorcycle manufacturer KTM is all set to cross sales of 100,000 units this year, posting its best performance ever due to its alliance with Bajaj. KTM global CEO Stefan Pierer explains on CNBC-TV18 the future launches that the company has lined up in India.

"We expect to launch a 390cc and maybe a 200cc model. We're also thinking to go one step lower maybe below 200cc, 180cc or 190cc to offer more price-competitive models," Pierer explained.

He explained, "I would say that our 125cc model is a very specific displacement for the European market because that's in the moped class that you can ride at the age of 16. For India, I think we will launch an 180cc or 190cc model."

"We can become 10 times the size what we are right now. But I have learned that India a very price-sensitive market. If we can offer three different models and several displacements, I think we can achieve a target of selling 80,000 units. I have a vision that in the next three-to-four years we will roll-out 100,000 units from the Bajaj 's Pune production facility.



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Union Bank cuts home, education loan rates

State-run Union Bank of India today reduced education loan rates by up to 2 per cent, and a category of home loans by 0.25 per cent, as the focus of the banking industry shifts to retail borrowers.
    
Under the revised rates applicable from November 29, educational loan rates go down by 1.5-2 per cent while the interest on home loans above Rs 30 lakh will be cheaper by 0.25 per cent, the bank said in a statement.

Also read: Life insurance penetration in India higher than global avg
    
Educational loan of up to Rs 7.5 lakh can be availed at an interest of 12.75 per cent while that above Rs 7.5 lakh will be priced at 12.50 per cent, it said. For home loans up to Rs 75 lakh, credit will be available on par with the base rate at 10.50 per cent; for loans above Rs 75 lakh and up to Rs 5 crore, the interest gets reduced to 0.25 per cent over the base rate.
    
Demand from the corporate side has dried up due to gloomy economic conditions, which have forced bankers to shift focus towards the retail segment, where demand continues.



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Arvind aims Rs 1,500cr biz from retail next yr

Textile major Arvind Ltd is eyeing Rs 1,400-1,500 crore in revenue from its retail business by next financial year, a top company official said on Friday. "We are looking at a turnover of Rs 1,400-1,500 crore by March 2014 from retail activity," Arvind Ltd, head-retail (EBO), PS Rajiv said.

"The retail business of Arvind Ltd comprises retail stores under the name Arvind Stores and fabric business, which currently generates revenue of around Rs 680 crore," he said.

The company also owned several other retail stores and brands through its subsidiary Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd. "Currently, we have 73 Arvind Stores which would go up to 100 by March and by next year it will increase to 240," Rajiv said. "These retail stores will generate revenue of Rs 400-500  crore by FY14 and rest would come from the fabric segment," he said.

"Nearly 80 percent of our stores are located in tier-II and -III cities as the business model fits better in these cities and around 95 percent of the stores are already profitable," Rajiv said. "The company is a manufacturer and retailer of premium denim and cotton fabric, where 60 percent of the revenue from the fabric business comes from export and going foward the share is expected to be 50:50," he said.



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Woodlands eyeing Rs 1,000cr turnover in FY13

Apparel major Woodland is targetting around Rs 1,000 crore in turnover next fiscal and will be looking at expanding presence in tier-II and -III cities, a top company official said on Friday. "Pan-India, 30 percent of new stores of Woodland will be in tier-II and tier-III cities," Woodland Worldwide, managing director, Harkirat Singh said.

However, since many malls are coming up in metro cities, bigger cities cannot be ignored, he said. "In the past two to three years, we have seen the smaller towns growing. We will keep the balance between smaller towns and big cities," he said. Woodland has 370 stores nationwide and another 4,000 retailers selling Woodland products.

The turnover in 2011 was Rs 700 crore and by March 2013, it would touch Rs 800 crore, he said. "Next fiscal, the target we are looking is close to Rs 1,000 crore," he said.

In Kerala, Woodlands has 15 stores and another 8-10 are in the pipeline. Kerala's commercial capital Kochi will have three more stores, Thiruvananthapuram well get one more store and a new one would be opened at Kozhikode. New stores are to be opened at Thodupuza, Thalassery, Perinthalmanna, Kottayam and Alapuzha.

The leading outdoor apparel and footwear brand on Friday launched its autumn and winter collection for 2012-13 in Kerala, the highlight of which was an innovative two-piece jacket that can be used as a waterproof windcheater for all seasons, a warm jacket for the winters as well as a combination of both.

The new collection comes in multiple colours, ensuring a contemporary look in functional style. Starting this season, Woodland will launch a special series of products inspired by CSR initiative 'Pro Planet'. A variety of sweatshirts have been designed with new looks and cuts that would be in stores, encouraging the youth for a green environment.



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Thomas Cook India to raise Rs 200 cr via NCD route New

Thomas Cook India today said it will raise Rs 200 crore by issuing non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.

The company's board of directors has approved raising of Rs 200 crore by issuance of non convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis with/without security, Thomas Cook India said in a filing to BSE.

Also read: Thomas Cook to raise Rs 200 cr via NCDs The NCD's are proposed to be issued in one or more tranches with a tenor of 3 years to 5 years, it added. NCD's may be secured by charge on movable and/or immovable property (ies) of the company," Thomas Cook India said.

In May this year Thomas Cook Group plc, UK had sold off its entire 77 per cent holding in TCIL for Rs 817.4 crore to Canada based Fairfax Financial Holdings, which later on made an open offer to the non-promoters and post August 14, 2012 to fully acquire TCIL.

Thomas Cook India shares today closed at Rs 60 apiece on BSE, up 0.25 per cent from their previous close.



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India calls for Malaysia cos in road projects

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 29 November 2012 | 23.25

India on Thursday sought investment from Malaysian companies in road-development projects in the country, stating that it had embarked on a massive national highway building programme. Visiting minister of state for road transport and highways, S Sathyanarayana, said India envisaged investment of upto USD 70 billion in the next five years in this field.

"About 50-to-60 percent of this programme is envisaged to be built through public-private partnership (PPP) in different types of concession agreements such as the build, operate and transfer (BoT) on toll basis and design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) concept," he said.

"A balanced programme is envisaged to be taken up on BoT (annuity) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode with public funding," the minister said. "We intend to take up mega projects of longer length of about 400 to 500 km estimated to cost about USD 1 billion each and would welcome international participation and foreign direct investment (FDI)," he told reporters at the sidelines of the Asean-India Connectivity Summit.



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Aston Martin says company not for sale

British sports car maker Aston Martin said it is in "advanced" talks with potential investors over an injection of capital into the business.

Indian tractor maker Mahindra and Mahindra last week topped an offer from Italian private equity fund Investindustrial that had been agreed with Aston's owner, Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, sources said.

"We are in talks for a capital increase, the company is not for sale and our existing shareholders, Investment Dar, are very much committed to Aston Martin," an Aston Martin spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday.

The spokeswoman confirmed that Aston Martin's third-quarter presentation to bondholders, published late on Wednesday, described the talks as being "at an advanced stage".

The Indian group hopes to strike a deal to buy up to half of Aston Martin by the end of this week, sources said on Tuesday, adding that the deal would likely be for an initial 40-percent stake that could rise to 50 percent for a total price of around $400 million.

Investment Dar has consistently denied it is in talks to sell all of part of its stake in Aston Martin.



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Swiss companies scout for opportunities in India

Swiss companies are keenly looking at business opportunities in India and other high-growth markets, amid sluggish economic conditions in Europe, a Swiss official said on Thursday. Switzerland is the eleventh biggest foreign investor in India, according to Chris Watts, part of Swiss government's trade and investment promotion body.

"Swiss companies are now not just looking at China. They are looking at Asian and Latin American markets that have high growth potential. They are looking at the growing middle class (population) as such as the one in India," he told PTI. He noted that Swiss companies have created about 66,000 jobs in India in the last 10 years.

At present, about 100 firms from Switzerland have business in the country. Watts said Indian companies are also very interested to invest in Switzerland. "Bilateral trade (between the two nations) is expected to grow 5-10 per cent over the one to two years. I expect Swiss exports to grow little faster than Indian exports to Switzerland," he said.

The trade between India and Switzerland stood at nearly USD 5 billion in 2011. Watts was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by the Swiss Embassy to announce that Glenmark Pharmaceuticals CMD Glenn Saldanha has been chosen for 'Swiss Ambassador's Award for Exceptional Innovation'.



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Govt may form inter-ministerial panel on sugar decontrol

In order to fasttrack decontrol of sugar sector, the government is mulling setting up an inter-ministerial panel to review recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee on sugar deregulation.

The panel could be chaired by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and ministers from finance, commerce, food and new and renewable energy ministries and the Planning Commission deputy chairman could be members in it, sources said. "The PMO is considering setting of an inter-ministerial panel on sugar decontrol to fast track implementation of some of the recommendations made in the Rangarajan Report," according to sources. 

At present, sugar is the only sector fully controlled by the government. The sector is regulated right from production through distribution in the open market and ration shops. In October, the PM-constituted committee led by PMEAC chairman C Rangarajan had submitted a report suggesting scrapping of major controls on the sugar sector.

The food ministry is considering implementation of some of the  recommendations, which do not require approval of the state-governments, by year-end. It has has sought views of the state-governments on the Rangarajan Report.

Barring two key regulations with respect to fixing sugarcane price and sharing of 70 percent revenue by sugar firms with farmers, the Rangarajan Report has suggested giving freedom to mills to sell sugar in the open market and having a stable export and import policy. It has recommended removal of obligation on the part of mills to supply 10 percent of sugar at cheaper rate to the government to meet the ration shops demand.

In the long-term, it has recommended doing away with the cane area reservation and minimum distance criteria between sugar mills besides suggesting removal of controls on byproducts like molasses.



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No plan to set up manufacturing unit in India yet: JLR

Jaguar Land Rover is placing its bets on emerging markets like Russia, Brazil and India. But even as its parent Tata Motors announced a joint venture to invest upto 1.36 billion pounds in setting up a plant in China , India will take significantly longer to catch up with its peers.

John Edwards, global brand director, Land Rover, "We have no formal plans right now that we can come in. We continue quite clearly to look very closer at the Indian markets and we will assemble vehicles rather. Right now we have got nothing more to say about formal manufacturing plans."

"India initially in particular would be a market where the Land Rover Freelander and the Rangerover Voque will be particularly popular in terms of numbers. That's not to say we don't want to sell range rovers or range rovers sports, but in terms of volumes in terms of numbers , the proportion of our total sales than the Free Lander or Range Rover Vogue." he added.



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9 LPG cylinders this year if oil cos get extra Rs 3,000cr

The oil ministry will raise the cap on supply of subsidised cooking gas (LPG) to 9 cylinders per household in a year provided the finance ministry agrees to give an additional Rs 3,000 crore in 2012-13.

Oil minister M Veerappa Moily on Thursday first met finance minister P Chidambaram and then held a two-hour-long brainstorming session with heads of the three PSU fuel retailers on the issue of raising the cap of 6 subsidised cylinders per household in a year.

A top ministry official said oil companies are already losing over Rs 400 crore per day on selling diesel and cooking fuels below cost and bearing the cost of supplying additional subsidised cylinders will be impossible. "We can raise the cap to 9 cylinders if the finance ministry agrees to give an additional subsidy. For the remaining part of the current fiscal, the additional subsidy would be over Rs 3,000 crore and on an annualised basis it would be about Rs 9,000 crore at current prices," he said.

The government had on September 13 decided to restrict the supply of subsidised LPG to 6 cylinders of 14.2-kg each to every household in a year. Any requirement beyond this had to be purchased at market rates which are more than double the subsidised price of Rs 410.50 per bottle in Delhi.

Only 44 per cent of the households in the country consume 6 cylinders in a year and the rest of them have to purchase between 3 and 6 cylinder at the rate of Rs 895.50 per 14.2-kg bottle in Delhi. This has led to vociferous demands from all quarters to raise the cap on supply of subsidised cylinders. Moily had last week told the Parliament that demands for raising the cap "were being looked into."

The official said so far the finance ministry has remained non-committal on providing additional subsidy. Even with 6-cylinder-per-household cap, oil PSUs face a unprecedented revenue loss of over Rs 163,000 crore on sale of diesel, subsidised LPG and kerosene. Of this, the finance ministry has to provide Rs 105,525 crore and it does not seem to have funds to meet even this share.

Increasing the cap would add another Rs 3,000 crore to this figure.The remaining of the revenue loss on fuel sale is borne by oil firms. Retailers currently lose Rs 10.19 per litre on diesel, Rs 32.87 a litre on kerosene and Rs 478.50 per 14.2-kg subsidised LPG cylinder. In 2011-12, government gave out Rs 83,500 crore by way of cash subsidy.

The official said Moily also took up with Chidambaram the issue of finance ministry providing a cash support of only Rs 30,000 crore as against a demand of over Rs 55,000 crore to cover losses incurred on selling fuel below cost in the first half of current fiscal. After the imposition of the cap, the demand for subsidised LPG grew by only 2 percent in September and October this year as compared to a growth of 6.7 percent in the same period last year.

Non-subsidised LPG sales this year jumped by 17.4 percent as compared to 1.4 percent last year. The official said LPG supplies are being streamlined and bottlenecks removed.The filling of know-your customer (KYC) forms has been mandatory only on 2.6 crore suspected customers who have multiple connections at the same address.

Only one subsidised connection per household comprising husband, wife, dependant chilren and parents is allowed.



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Monnet Ispat may acquire coking coal mine in Columbia

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 28 November 2012 | 23.25

Monnet Ispat and Energy today said it is in talks to acquire a coking coal mine in Columbia which may cost it anything between USD 50-75 million (Rs 277-416 crore).

The proposed acquisition, which would be its second overseas buyout after one in Indonesia, is intended at meeting its captive requirement, Monnet Ispat and Energy Chairman and Managing Director Sandeep Jajodia told reporters here.

"We are in talks with the company (in Columbia). Talks are going on. We hope to close the deal in about month's time. This is essentially a coking coal mine which we require for our own captive needs," he said.

"The mine has proven reserves of 25 million tonnes and some indicative reserves, which need to get proven, which can up to another 25-30 million tonnes. So overall, it could end up having a 50 million tonnes capacity," Jajodia added.

Asked about the likely cost of the acquisition, he said, "It's premature. We are still negotiating on the price. It will be about USD 1-1.5 times of the reserves."

Monnet Ispat and Energy through its subsidiary Monnet Global had bought Sarwa Sembada Karya Bumi for USD 24 million (about Rs 130 crore) in the Jambi province of Sumatra, Indonesia, last year.

Jajodia said the company was currently "fully exploring" the mine in Indonesia and may take 3-4 months to finish the exploration job. "When we bought the Indonesian mine, it was partially explored. At that time, the approximate reserve was 65 million tonnes. But, this reserve will go up, may be 2-3 times and the reason for that most of the mine is yet to be explored," he said.

"The exploration is going on. It will take 3-4 months to complete the exploration to firm up total reserves. After that, we will start production. This is mostly for merchant sales," Jajodia said.

However, if Monnet Ispat and Energy plans to set up any power project, the company may look at importing coal for that project, he said.

Jajodia said the company is looking for opportunities in Africa for acquisition. "We want to invest in any mine in any part of the world. We are looking in some countries in Africa for various minerals, not only coal, but for iron ore and manganese ore, etc," he said.



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Centre to set up first geothermal power project in Ladakh

For promoting non-conventional energy, the Centre is setting up its first geothermal power project in Ladakh, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said today. "We are working on that. Our first project on geothermal with a capacity of 3MW is coming up near Ladakh," Abdullah told reporters here.

Noting that it is one of the major geothermal-based projects in the world, he said the Ministry will look at how such projects can be extended to other states. On the use of Ethanol-based fuel, he said the Ministry was looking at how five per cent of ethanol can be added.

"You should know Brazil has allowed 55 percent. Even here some developers are ready to offer 20 percent (to the government for the use of Ethanol)," he said. To a query on dumping of low quality products from China, the Minister said his Ministry was already working with the Commerce Ministry on how it can be avoided.

"I have asked the Ministry to have a check on it, quality control must be essential," he said. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Joint Secretary Tarun Kapoor said the Ministry was looking at the supply of products from China to India, which have comparatively low manufacturing cost.

Earlier, Abdullah formally launched the Solar Radiation Resource Assessment facility, which was set up at a cost of Rs 25 crore by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology here. Commenting on the SRRA facility, Abdullah said many solar developers were not sure on where to get solar data available.

Through this facility, a developer can get the data and set up a project at a location where there is more solar radiation. "This facility put up by C-WET will help us find where the solar radiation is available, the speed of the wind and humidity of that area." he said.

Strongly pitching for use of new and renewable energy, Abdullah said, "We want to get out of fossil fuels. We are importing about 80 percent, whether it is oil or whether it is coal. Now, we gradually want to get out of that process and getting into what God has given to us and utilise that energy."

"Here you are in a state which is facing extreme shortage of power...The quickest method (to address power crisis) is by solar power and wind power. You (Tamil Nadu) have done very well. But there are certain constraints," he said.

The constraints are despite having wind mills they are not able to transmit power because the lines are absent. Besides, the grid is not powerful enough to take that power. "So we have to move in that direction, the States have to talk to the Centre and the Centre should talk to States that we will give them some assistance so that they (States) could have better transmission lines," he said.

"Unless we work together, we will never achieve that. We will be free of this power breakdowns or shortage of power when we work together," he said.

Referring to the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission which aims to add 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022, he said the reason why information of local content (like humidity and wind speed) was mentioned in the scheme was to help developers make use of the data and set up projects.

"You do not realise what God has given in your hands (in the form of solar and wind power). That is why local content has been put. We want the industry to improve," he said.



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Ratan Tata positive on India, says outlook 'not as bad'

Tata Group head Ratan Tata has said that though India had many changes of government, the outlook "might not be as bad" as one might think.

However, Tata, who was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Business from the University of New South Wales, said he feels that the fabric of Indian values and ethics was "slowly deteriorating", especially in the business community.

He made it clear that his group, India's largest conglomerate, was based on strong ethics and would not participate in corruption and bribery.

"India (may have) had many changes of government, but the outlook 'might not be as bad as you might think...I would have hope'," The Australian daily quoted him as saying.

Tata said he expects China to move towards democracy. He said many democracies would also have to find ways of "enforcing what they want to do if they want to move forward".

Tata said that Australia and India should step up bilateral trade ties, especially in high-technology areas adding that there were good reasons for the countries to "do much more together than they have done".

"Australia is a vibrant economy," Tata said. There were areas of high technology where Australia was "at the forefront" and India could benefit from this.

"India seeks some of the technology that Australia produces," the 74-year-old chairman of Tata Group said.

At the same time, he said India had a much larger population of some 350 million middle class consumers, which would grow as high as 600 million.

Trade between Australia and India has soared over the past decade, growing from USD 3.1 billion in 2000 to more than USD 21 billion in 2011.

Demand for Australian commodities such as coal, wool and copper is driving the trade, but education is also a large and growing aspect of the relationship.

"It would be terrific to see Australian companies have products which could have access to a market of that scale," Tata said.

He said there needed to be more interchange between the people of Australia and India, including student exchanges and internships.

"There needs to be a greater bonding of people, which will come from such moves," he said.

Tata said he would like to see his company do more business with Australia. At the moment, its main business in Australia is buying iron ore and coking coal.

Tata said India was "slowly deteriorating in the fabric of its values and ethics, especially in the business community".



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No one high mighty was spared in 2G probe: CBI director

"No one high and mighty was spared in the 2G telecom spectrum case," outgoing CBI chief AP Singh said on Wednesday, rejecting suggestions of any political interference in the agency dealing with high profile cases. "No. I don't think so. We were monitored by the Supreme Court. Some matters are still pending for the Letter Rogatory. When the Letter Rogatory comes, then we will review all these issues."

Singh, who is demitting office on Friday, was responding to a question whether some high-profile people could not be made accused in the 2G allocation case. Responding to questions about political interference in the working of CBI, Singh said there was absolutely no political interference in the investigations under CBI.

"In any investigation, we are only answerable to the trial court. Nobody can give us any directions. Only cases where the Supreme Court or the High Court is monitoring, we are under pressure, but no political person can tell the agency what needs to be done," he told PTI.

The director said people are totally free to investigate and come to their own conclusions. "The CBI is totally insulated from political interference. Our officers work absolutely free and impartially. I can give examples even in 2G and in so many cases, there have been so many difference of opinions."

"And the difference of opinion arises because everybody writes what he feels. Otherwise you will never have difference of opinion. It will be always what the director decides," he said.

About the organisational challenges faced by the agency during his tenure, Singh said lack of state-of the art forensic laboratory remains a major lacunae in the agency."You need to have state-of-the-art forensic laboratory. We are very weak. In the Bhanwari Devi case, we had to send the bones to FBI. Then there are so many issues like LR, shortage of manpower. When I joined it was 20 per cent now its 12 percent but still needs (attention)," he said.

Singh said he never really got a chance to look into organisational matters because from day-one he was busy with the probe in scams. "There have been lot of challenges, the CBI needs to be made into multi-disciplinary agency. You need to attract people from other agencies and expertise,there has to be change in the structuring of CBI," he said.

On the coal block allocations which was another major scam which was investigated by the agency during his tenure, Singh said the progress was slow because of the lack of sufficient manpower to handle probes in the scam which is spread across three ministries and 142 companies.

"It is in process of verification. About 142 companies will be probed in the first phase and another 50 companies in the second phase. All documents need to be collected. There are three ministries involved and various state-governments involved. It's a mammoth task. We have not been able to given them enough manpower to do it. So it will take time, but things will happen," Singh said.

About the criticism of CBI turning into IPS-driven organisation, Singh refused to comment saying the agency was following existing government policy.



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London Mayor backs India's FDI verdict on retail, insurance

Visiting London Mayor Boris Johnson today backed the Indian government's decision to open up the insurance and mutil-brand retail sectors to FDI, saying it might augur well for the poor even as he suggested that India can experiment with more "openness".

 "If a multiple-brand retailer can help people access food cheaply and securely with less anxiety about the price then again you are helping to increase, not diminish the wealth of some of the poorest people in the country," Johnson, who is leading a business delegation to India, said in his address at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

 "If a British insurance company is able to help reduce premiums for households for medical insurance for an Indian person with modest income, then that person will be able to spend the larger share of his wealth on other forms of consumption. That would benefit the economy," he said. "I would humbly and respectfully suggest there are more ways in which India could experiment with more openness," he said.

Carrying forward the big-ticket reforms agenda, the government recently decided to move ahead with its proposal to hike foreign investment ceiling in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from the present 26 per cent. It also had allowed 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail but left it to the states to permit opening of foreign funded stores. London's technological sector had grown from virtually nil to employ more than 40,000 people, Johnson said.

"It happened because people of brilliance and energy, many of them of Indian origin, came to London because they like the feel of the place and have made their home there," he added. Johnson said the critical thing in a global economy is to find the place and people who will add value in the most efficient and competitive way.

As part of their tour in India, the Mayor said they have been able to convince two hotel groups into investing in London hospitality sector. Replying to query, he said a city Mayor has to have control over the police, security, system for the safety and security of citizens.



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KoPT plans to charge royalty for on-shore handling of cargo

Kolkata Port Trust is planning to charge a royalty on on-shore handling of cargo, sources said. "Tomorrow, the KoPT management will place a proposal before the board of trustees to levy a royalty of Rs 25 per tonne for on-shore handling of cargo, port sources told PTI.

"The on-shore handling agents are neither approved nor regulated by KoPT and hence any charge or levy on them will impact users," the sources said. KoPT acting chairman Manish Jain was not available for comment. The sources claimed that the on-shore handling agents earn a revenue to the tune of Rs 200 crore a year from the Haldia Dock.

Meanwhile, a south-based company Seapol Port has emerged as the lowest bidder for mechanised cargo handling for berth 4B at Haldia with Rs 51.99 a tonne out of three bidders. There is no official confirmation of this as the same would be placed at the board of trustees meeting tomorrow.



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RPower's Chhatrasal coal mine gets enviroment clearance

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 27 November 2012 | 23.25

The Chhatrasal coal mine allotted to Reliance Power 's 4,000 MW Sasan Thermal Power project in Madhya Pradesh has received environment clearance. "The Chhatrasal coal block, one of the three captive coal blocks allotted to Sasan Power Ltd in 2006, has received clearance from the ministry of environment and forest," said a source.

When contacted, Reliance Power spokesperson confirmed that the environment clearance has been received for the Chhatrasal coal block, attached to the Sasan project.

The other two coal mines allocated for firing the Sasan project are Moher and Moher-Amlohri extension. An expert committee set up by the environment ministry to look into the issue of environment clearance for certain coal blocks, in its report had suggested environment clearance for the Chhatrasal coal block, subject to certain conditions.

In May, the report was accepted by the group of ministers (GoM), constituted to consider the environmental and development issues relating to coal mining The GoM had recommended forest clearance to Chhatrasal coal block subject to certain conditions.

The block has coal reserves of about 160 million tonnes and a peak rated capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum. The first 660 MW unit of Sasan UMPP is about to be commissioned by January.



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Posco to set up world-class steel plant in Odisha: Yoon

Notwithstanding delays in the implementation of its Rs 52,000 crore project in Odisha, the South Korean steel major Posco today said the company is determined to establish a world class steel facility near Paradip.

"As all of you are aware, POSCO signed MoU with Government of Odisha in 2005 to set up a 12 MTPA integrated steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district. In the last 7 years we have faced some obstacles and delays," Posco India CMD Y W Yoon said, while awarding the POSCO Asia Fellowship on behalf of POSCO T J Park Foundation at BPUT and KIIT here.

"But we are still determined to move ahead and construct a world class steel facility for the benefit of all stakeholders," he said.

"POSCO will do its best efforts to construct a state-of- the-art steel plant in Odisha. And I expect to see you (Odisha engineers) working with us in upcoming days," Yoon said.

Like previous years, the POSCO TJ Park Foundation Scholarship has been awarded to meritorious students of BPUT (Biju Patnaik University of Technology) and KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) University, in a special award ceremony organised here.

This time 10 students - five each from BPUT and KIIT University, received the prestigious scholarship that is being conferred every year to meritorious students since 2006 by POSCO T J Park Foundation.



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Indian ICT firms passionate about Nigerian market

A 13-member delegation of Indian electronic and ICT firms participating in a buyer-seller meet  have expressed optimism in Nigeria emerging as a major market for products and services from India.

The companies are participating in a three-day business tie-up summit organised by the High Commission of India in Nigeria and the Electronics and Computer Software Promotion Council of India.

"There is a huge business opportunity in Nigeria and India SMEs are ready to do business in Nigeria because the country has a big telecoms market and the next generation will make a huge difference." head of the delegation from India and managing director of Telematic4u Services Ltd, Pratap Hedge told PTI after the interaction with Nigerian businessmen.

According to him, the major advantage and facilitator of business between both countries was English as a common language. He said sectors like telecoms are growing at fast pace in Nigeria. He added that the large population of the oil-rich African country is a big advantage citing instance from India which also has a large population that became advantageous. "Our council is in Nigeria to interact with Nigerian buyers of ICT products and services, as well as explore the possibilities of business cooperation and strategic alliances with them," he said.

"As a catalyst for the India ICT industry, our council is here to develop a new mechanism of making our products accessible and affordable to Nigerians," he added. Managing director and CEO of Airtel Nigeria, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, Rajan Swaroop while sharing his experience in Nigeria with the businessmen said the country has the potential to surpass India in the ICT sector.

"In 1990, India was in the same position Nigeria found itself today but the potential of this African country is huge," he said. "Information technology (IT) is one of the thrust areas identified by the department of commerce of the government of India for enhancing trade between India and Nigeria," the High Commission in Nigeria said in a statement before the meeting.

With bilateral trade at over USD 17.3 billion, India is currently Nigeria's second largest trading partner.



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RIL overtakes TCS to become most valued company

Reliance Industries today became the country's most valued company, pushing IT major TCS to second spot in the domestic market capitalisation chart.

With a market value of Rs 2,54,377 crore at close of trade today, energy giant RIL surpassed TCS's market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 2,53,479 crore. Shares of RIL were up 1.66 per cent at Rs 786.20 on the BSE at end of trade, while TCS shares settled with a mild gain of 0.23 per cent at Rs 1,295.10.

Market capitalisation or value of a listed company is arrived at by multiplying the total number of its shares with its stock price on a particular day or time. This figure changes daily with the change in the stock price.

ITC with a market value of Rs 2,30,939 crore stood at third place, followed by Coal India (Rs 2,28,020 crore) and ONGC (Rs 2,13,673 crore).

In the broader market, the BSE benchmark Sensex shot up 305 points to 2-month high of 18,842 after credit rating agency Moody's said that India's outlook is stable and reports of a debt relief package to Greece that boosted stock markets globally.



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Lancor Holdings buys LT Commercial Projects

Chennai-based realty firm Lancor Holdings today said it has bought L&T Commercial Projects Pvt Ltd but did not disclose the deal size.  "Lancor Holdings Ltd has informed BSE that the company has concluded the purchase of 100 per cent equity shares of L&T Commercial Projects Pvt Ltd," the realty firm said in a filing to the BSE.
    
The company, however, did not share details on financials involved in the deal. "As a result of this acquisition, approximately 6.5 acres of prime land on GST Road has become available for development into residential and commercial projects with good potential to earn profits," Lancor said without sharing details.
    
Lancor scrip closed 4.79 per cent up at Rs 42.70 apiece on the BSE.
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Barclays India to up manpower at wealth management division

Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 21:11

British bank Barclays today said it will ramp up its manpower at the wealth management division here by up to 15 per cent this fiscal, even as gloomy economic conditions make the going difficult for its peers.

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Barclays India to up manpower at wealth management division

British bank Barclays today said it will ramp up its manpower at the wealth management division here by up to 15 per cent this fiscal, even as gloomy economic conditions make the going difficult for its peers.

Like this story, share it with millions of investors on M3

Barclays India to up manpower at wealth management division

British bank Barclays today said it will ramp up its manpower at the wealth management division here by up to 15 per cent this fiscal, even as gloomy economic conditions make the going difficult for its peers.

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British bank Barclays today said it will ramp up its manpower at the wealth management division here by up to 15 per cent this fiscal, even as gloomy economic conditions make the going difficult for its peers.


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Ford plans to introduce 8 new products on track

Written By Unknown on Senin, 26 November 2012 | 23.25

Aiming to be a strong player in the Indian automobile market, US auto major Ford today said its plan to introduce eight new products by middle of this decade was "on track", with the mini-urban SUV "EcoSport" to be unveiled in 2013 being part of it.

"Though the leaders have changed, base plan has not changed. We announced that eight new products will be introduced around the middle of the decade. We are well on track (towards it)", Jogindar Singh, who will take charge as the new President and Managing Director of Ford India from December 1, told reporters here. Singh will replace Michael Boneham, who was heading the Indian subsidiary of Ford for the last five years.

Also read: Audi plans to start assembling of Q3 SUV in India
  
He said the launch of company's compact hatchback "Figo had been a "gamechanger" for the company. "We are on track (for launching our products) and proof of that is the EcoSport which we expect it to be another gamechanger." Singh said the mini-sub four metre urban SUV would be launched from the company's Maraimalai Nagar plant next year.
   
"We have invited Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for launching it and she has graciously accepted it," he said.
    
Stating that Asia-Pacific region is poised for exponential growth, Singh said the company expects 70 per cent of business would be contributed from this region. "My responsibility is to bring the best of Ford Motor Company to Ford India," he said, adding, most of the eight products for launch would be in the small car segment.

He said the company's Sanand facility in Gujarat was "on track" and expected to be commence operation by 2014. Singh said Boneham, who was also present at the event, had created a "strong foundation" for Ford and his challenge was to fill the "big shoes". "We have to continue to grow at a very fast rate," he said.

As part of expanding Ford's presence in India, Singh said they planned to double touch points to 250 within one year. "The plan is to double the touchpoints to 500 this decade. We want to go closer to customers in Tier II and III (locations)," he said, adding that 40 per cent of growth comes from such areas. Boneham said the "interest rates" were still higher and was having a significant impact on business.
   
Ford India reported a marginal increase in total sales at 10,948 units in Oct 2012. The company sold 10,906 units in the same month last year.



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India, China ink 11 MoUs entailing USD 5.2 bn investment

Giving a fillip to the economic ties between the two countries, India and China today inked 11 agreements entailing investment of over USD 5 billion (about Rs 27,865 crore).

The memorandums of understanding were signed during a day-long 2nd India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue here. The first agreement was signed between the Planning Commission and Chinese planning body National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) for undertaking joint studies in economic policy research and development planning.

The MoUs were also singed to encourage cooperation between India's Bureau of Energy Efficiency and NDRC. Another MoU was between Indian Railways and China's Ministry ofRailways for enhancing technical cooperation in the railway sector.

Another agreement was inked by India's IT industry body NASSCOM and China Software Industry Association (CSIA) for enhancing cooperation in IT and ITES sector. In private sector, MoUs were signed between Reliance Power and Guangdone Mingyang Wind Power Industry Group Co, Ltd for a 2,500 MW renewable energy project envisaging an investment of USD 3 billion with project financing from China Development Bank.

Lanco Group has entered into an agreement with China Development bank for financing USD 600 billion Anpara Phase-II Power projects (4X660MW).

NIIT and Province of Hainan joined hand to set up an IT technology park in Hainan with an investment of USD 800 million.



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UAE's Network Intl acquires remittances player Timesofmoney

Media major Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) has sold a majority stake in its wholly-owned remittances subsidiary Timesofmoney to UAE-based Network International.

As part of the deal, Network International, which is engaged in the payments space in Middle-East and Africa, will acquire a majority stake in Timesofmoney from its parent Times Internet, a subsidiary of BCCL. However, no financial details of the deal were disclosed.

Timesofmoney felt it was necessary to have a strategic investor on board as it was not able to tap into the largest inward remittances source of Middle East, its Chief Executive Avijit Nanda told PTI here.

The chief executive of Network International Bhairav Trivedi said his company was entering the cross-border remittances space through the acquisition. Both Nanda and Trivedi, as well as Network International's chairman Abdulla Qaseem declined to specify the deal size or the percentage of equity changing hands.

A Timesofmoney statement said Times Internet will continue to hold a minority stake in the company and also have a board seat. Trivedi said post-acquisition, Network International plans to grow Timesofmoney's online merchant acquisition business, enter the white label ATMs (non-banking entities who are now allowed to set up ATMs) in the next round of bidding and also the point of sales terminals businesses.

Nanda said Timesofmoney facilitated up to USD 3.5 billion of the total of USD 65 billion in remittances into India in FY2011-12. Middle East contributed to around USD 24 billion of the total remittances into India and the company, which now has the capability to serve the geography having a large India diaspora, will aim to capture at least a "couple of percentage points" of that business to start with, Trivedi said.

Network International will retain the entire team of 210 employees at Timesofmoney post deal, he added.



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Life insurer's premium mop-up drop 3.45 pc in Apr-Oct: Irda

Premium collected by life insurance companies dropped 3.45 per cent in the April-October period due to various factors that are influencing the financial sector as a whole.
    
As per the data released by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irda), premiums collected by 23 private sector companies and lone state-owned LIC totaled Rs 53,814.09 crore during the period.
    
They together had collected Rs 55,737.84 crore in the April-October 2011 period. India's largest life insurer LIC reported a drop of 2.88 per cent in its premium collection, while the decline in private companies was 5.07 per cent.
    
LIC's premium collection stood at Rs 40,069.84 crore in April-October as against Rs 41,259 crore in the year-ago period.
    
Private insurers netted Rs 13,744.25 crore as against Rs 14,479 crore in the corresponding period of 2011-12. Life insurance companies collect premium under four segments -- individual single, individual non-single, group single and group non-single.
    
Reliance Life's premium collection dropped by 14.78 per cent, that of ICICI Prudential by about 6.9 per cent and of HDFC Standard Life by approximately 5 per cent.
    
Last week, the Finance Ministry had said in Parliament that the reasons for a negative growth in the premium collections are various factors that are influencing the financial sector as a whole.
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Govt decides to deduct Rs 39 cr guarantee for 2 coal mines

The government has decided to deduct bank guarantees worth Rs 39 crore in the case of two coal mines allocated to five firms, including Tata Sponge and Bajrang Ispat.

"In pursuance of the recommendations of IMG (Inter- Ministerial Group) it has been decided to deduct the Bank Guarantee (BG) furnished by the allocatee companies.

"The BG to the extent of Rs 32.50 crore be deducted and deposited with the government," the coal ministry has said in a letter to Tata Sponge, Scraw Industries and SPS Sponge Iron allocated Radhikapur (East) coal block.

Radhikapur (East) coal block was alloted to the three firms with Tata Sponge as leader to meet the coal requirement of for their sponge iron production and captive power generation, the ministry said.

In another letter to Nilachal Iron & Power and Bajrang Ispat, the ministry said, "Accordingly it has been decided to deduct the proportionate BG furnished by the allocatee companies in respect of Dumri coal block in respect of shortfall in production. The BG to the extent of Rs 6.50 crore be deducted."

Dumri coal block was alloted to Nilachal Iron & Power and Bajrang Ispat to meet their coal requirement of 47 million tonnes (MT) and 22 MT.

The government had formed the IMG in July to review progress of coal blocks allocated to firms for captive use. A total of 58 mines were issued show-cause notices for failing to develop blocks within stipulated timeline.



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Trai to review registration process for consumer advocacy

Telecom regulator Trai today said it will review the registration process for consumer advocacy groups to bring in more transparency and facilitate more effective communication with them.

Any organisation registered under Societies Registration Act 1860 or any other Act for promotion of education and protection of interest of consumers registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 would be eligible for registration, Trai said in the draft 'Registration of Consumer Organisations Regulations 2012' said. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) added that the organisation should have at least three years' experience in handling consumer complaints, advocating cause of consumers, research and survey on consumer issues to be eligible for registration.

It further said the organisation seeking registration have to submit an affidavit of it being non-profit and non-political as well as defining its role and obligations.

"The review of the existing framework for registration of consumer organisations has become necessary with a view to bring in more transparency in registration process and to facilitate close and effective interaction with consumer organisations," Trai said.

It added that the renewal of registration of the organisations would depend on their performance. At present, there are about 90 consumer advocacy groups registered with the Authority. The last date for receiving comments from stakeholders is December 10, 2012.



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No acquisition plans in China; positive on Europe ops: TCS

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 25 November 2012 | 23.25

Out performing some of biggest names in IT, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has emerged as the poster boy in the country. N Chandrasekaran, CEO, TCS, has been credited for transforming TCS India's largest IT services company into an even bigger juggernaut. CNBC-TV18 chats exclusively with N Chandrasekaran to find out his success formula.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

"All our initiatives are coming out of this paradigm," says N Chandrasekaran.

The 48-year old CEO recently won the stations Asia Business Leader Award admits that the turbulent business environment has made the job harder.

"There have been a large number of uncertainties; there have been issues with respect to economy, natural calamities, issues of different kinds, and coping with them is probably one of the biggest challenges," says N Chandrasekaran.

A company man for the past 25 years, Chandra has been known by its employees to streamline TCS into a sleek machine, restructuring this behemoth into 23 vertical-led units, improving decision making down the line and making each unit more accountable.

"In terms of number of people, TCS is a very large company, with about 2,50,000 professionals. I felt the need to have lot of agility. My view was that we can respond to the market better, be agile and grow if we have a mini organization setup with around 5,000 to 8,000 employees, a CEO, CFO and HR officers as a management team that can run the unit efficiently," says Chandrasekaran. 

Chandrasekaran also chased new markets such as small and medium sized enterprises.

Chandrasekaran: But we quite didn't know how to chase small and medium sized enterprises.

Q: Why was that?

Chandrasekaran: Because our company serves the Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 companies so all our customers are leaders in their respective industry. The deal sizes become very smaller when we go to small and medium business.

Q: You need to come up with different business models?

Chandrasekaran: Yes.

Q: Like what?

Chandrasekaran: There are some problems. Small and medium enterprise doesn't have money to invest - they don't like large capex, they cannot attract people and anyone who serves that market typically has a solution for large enterprises or kind of downsizes those solutions to offer it to small and medium businesses.

Considering all these factors we though if we can come up with the cloud model where we can have a standardised set of solutions for small and medium businesses on an operating cash flow basis then it would be attractive.

Under his leadership TCS' market value has doubled since 2009 and revenue jumped 24 percent in 2011 to USD 10 billion, outperforming its closest rival Wipro and Infosys .

Q: Despite global volatility, TCS has managed to post strong growth and earnings when there are question marks about technology spending coming from the US and Europe. How have you mitigated the headwinds, what are you doing right?

Chandrasekaran: The customer segment that we operate they are going through tough times, but at the same time they are investing in technology primarily due two reasons; first, they are revenue efficiencies and typically driving efficiency involves investing in technology to get better returns. Second, the rate of change in technology is dramatic.

Technologies like cloud paradigm, mobility and big data are fast evolving and it becomes extremely important for companies to re-imagine their businesses, processes in light of these technologies. So we are aligning ourselves with these two requirements and that's throwing up a lot of opportunities and resulting in growth.

Q: Your rivals have expressed concerns about the outlook. Do you think you can continue to outperform the industry?

Chandrasekaran: I don't like to predict about our out performance but we will do that. The tax spending will continue, the overall pie of the tech industry is increasing. Second, what we do as a company within that market continues to expand because we are investing in new areas and investing innovation or creating new capabilities what we are able to do today is definitely different and these things are driving growth fast.



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Some consolidation in banking space inevitable: Chidambaram

Stating some consolidation in the banking system was inevitable, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said India must have two or three world size banks. "Finding new business models will inevitably lead to some consolidation. We should not fear consolidation. I know there is pride and identity, but ultimately some consolidation would have to take place in the banking system in this country," he said at the Bancon-2012 meet here.

"We must create at least 2 or 3 world size banks. China has done it. And if India wants to be and as it will be the third largest economy in the world...we must also have one or two world size banks and some consolidation is inevitable," he said.

Chidambaram further said that while consolidation takes place among top banks, there would also be place for local area banks.

"In fact, I regret that the idea of the local area bank which was started in 1996 stopped after first three licences were given. I think there is place for a local area bank for serving people of the region, local area, drawing strength from those people and serving those people, he added.

Also read: Govt to launch direct cash subsidy transfer from Jan 1

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has acquired board approval for the merger of the its remaining five associates with itself. It has already amalgamated two of its subsidiaries.

SBI merged one of its associate, State Bank of Saurashtra, with itself in 2008 besides merging itself with State Bank of Indore in 2010.



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Italy PE fund, MM in race for Aston Martin: Source

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and Indian car maker Mahindra have made competing bids for 50 percent of British luxury car maker Aston Martin with a deal expected over the weekend, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

Investindustrial reached a agreement with Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, which owns Aston Martin, on Thursday but afterwards Mahindra made a higher counter bid, the source said. "They are in talks. A deal is expected to be finalised over the weekend," the source said.

A spokesman for Investment Dar was not immediately available for comment, nor could Mahindra be reached for comment.

The source said Investindustrial had made a bid worth between 200 million and 250 million pounds (USD 400 million) for the stake and was confident in winning the race because its proposal was "technically" superior.

It said Investindustrial had agreed a technical partnership deal with Daimler AG's Mercedes.

Investindustrial, owned by Italy's Bonomi family, is not new to luxury motor brands. In 2006, it bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati and sold it for about 860 million euros last April to Volkswagen's Audi division.



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NASSCOM felicitates 50 innovative, emerging companies

Software body NASSCOM is committed to recognising innovative start ups since 2009 and it felicitates the top 50 emerging companies every year with NASSCOM Emerge 50 Awards. Its objective is to recognise, mentor and guide these emerging companies.

National Association for Software and Services Company (NASSCOM) kicked off the ninth edition of the 'Product Conclave 2012', in Bangalore. It is Asia's biggest platform for technology entrepreneurship, the product conclave over 1400 delegates participate and exchange ideas. The highlight was the Emerge 10 Awards for the ten best emerging companies of 2012 were felicitated.

The NASSCOM Emerge 10 companies are as follows:-

B2R (Business to rural)
It is quite literally transforming lives in Uttarakhand. B2R is a rural BPO. It provides knowledge based business support services mainly data crunching. In three years has grown from a 22 member team to 235 members and from one centre to five centres. Dhiraj Dolwani is the co-founder and ceo of B2R Technologies.

Vzury Interactive Solutions
It was founded by Chetan Kulkarni. It is a digital CRM company focused on empowering online businesses to engage with their customers. The product, Visitor Relationship Management delivers personalised ads converting website visitor drop-offs into customers with a data driven approach.

Foradian Technologies Limited
It is betting big on the education sector. Unni Krishnan of Foradian Technologies has built and open source enterprise, a school management system which provides an efficient way to manage an institutions and its data.

Rolocule
Anuj Tandon and Rohit Gupta decided to turn their passion for gaming into serious business and rolocule was born in 2010. Creating simple to play games for smart phones and tablets, rolocule games have already touched more than 1.6 million downloads in over 100 countries.

IKen
As more and more businesses are shifting their focus towards customer centricity, the demand for personalised analysis (not sure) has only increased. Betting big on this opportunity, Siddharth Goyal's found 'iKen".

With a number of mobile phones in India crossing the 900 million mark this year, more and more startups are betting big on the mobile telephony business both in terms of applications for smart phones and other tech related enhancements. Here are the next five startups from the NASSCOM emerge ten 2012 companies that are betting on mobile telephony, innovation and cloud based technology.

Knowlarity Communications
Ambarish Gupta and Pallav Pandey started Knowlarity Communications in 2009 with a dream to provide SMEs and enterprise innovative, inexpensive cloud telephony based products. Knowlarity is targeting a turnover of Rs 30 crore in the next fiscal.

mCarbon
Another company providing telephone based solutions in the value-added services space is mCarbon. Founded in 2008 by Rajesh Razdan and Brij Mohan Mahendru, mCarbon delivers contexts of well offerings that allow communication service providers like Airtel, Vodafone and Docomo to create and deliver smarter and valuable services like 'do not disturb' and 'manage your call'.

Reverie Language Technologies
Taking into account the digital explosion and increasing reach of mobile phones Arvind Pani founded Reverie Language Technologies in 2009. This enables text communication for complex languages on digital platforms like mobile phones, tablets, set-top boxes and navigation devices. Currently supporting 32 languages including 22 Indian languages Reverie clocked a turnover of Rs 1 crore last year.

Knolskape
Founded by Rajiv Jayaraman in 2008 Knolskape is a serious gaming and simulation company focused on training managers and aspiring management students at top B-schools. With clients in south East Asia, India, Middle East and the US, Knolskape creates multimedia case studies with immersive storylines for learners who go on to the next level after solving the previous ones. With a turnover of Rs 3 crore Rajiv wants to transform classrooms and boardrooms using innovative technology.

Asteor Software
Co-founded by Shankar Krishnamoorthy, Asteor Software offers software as a service or offers a software delivery model in which software is hosted on cloud. Having roped in ten customers so far and touching revenues of Rs 66 lakh Shankar and his team hope to touch Rs 1.4 crore this year and breakeven by 2015.



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FM asks RBI to start issuing new bank licences

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today made it clear to RBI that it has the powers to issue new bank licences and expressed the hope it will take the process forward "appreciating" government's position.

"Let me emphasise that the three powers that RBI want are already there with the RBI. It is already there in the regulation; it is there in the powers to grant the banking licences.

"I am sure the RBI acknowledges and appreciates the well-considered position of the Government and will take the process forward," he told reporters after inaugurating the two -day annual national banking summit (Bancon 2012) here. (Watch full speech)

The Finance Minister said amendments to the Act are simply to formalise powers that the Central bank is seeking and bring them together into the legislation.

Last week, after Chidambaram asked the regulator to start the process of issuing the much-delayed new banking licences, on November 16, RBI Governor D Subbarao had said it would be not possible without fulfilling the enabling conditions.

Asked whether RBI has formally responded to the Ministry that new licences could not be issued without the Bill being passed, Chidambaram said, "well, I don't know if a formal reply has been received to the letter that we sent 10 days ago. I don't know what their formal position is."

Asked whether he is confident of getting the Act passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, the Minister replied in the affirmative.

"I am pretty confident that the Banking Regulation Act will be passed as early as possible," Chidambaram said. 

"Even if the RBI picks up the thread and resumes the process that was started about a year ago of finalising the guidelines and issuing the first licence, that is going to take six to eight months and the occasion to invoke these extraordinary powers will not come the next day," he said.

"The occasion to invoke these extraordinary powers will come only when that bank does something wrong. And that is not going to happen one day after the licence is granted.

"Therefore, by the time the occasion arises, the powers will be there in the Banking Regulation Act. So as stated by the then Finance Minister's Budget speech, we must take the process of finalising the guidelines and receiving applications for new bank licences as early as possible," Chidambaram said.

The RBI is seeking powers to supersede the board of an erring bank, to authorise acquisition of shares beyond 5 percent in a bank holding company, and an exit policy in case of irregularities.

On November 15, Chidambaram said he had asked RBI to finalise the guidelines for new licences and start accepting applications for the same pending passage of the Banking Regulations Bill.

The last time the RBI allowed new private banks was in 2002 prior to which it allowed new players in 1991-92.

The RBI issued the final guidelines for new banks in August 2011, including those floated by corporates, but is waiting for the necessary legal powers before it proceeds further. The bank licences were initially slated to be issued way bank in 2008-09.

However, the Finance Ministry wants RBI to speed up the process, under provisions of the Companies Act, without waiting for amendments to the existing banking laws, in its effort to create a positive sentiment among investors and the industry.

The amendments to the Banking Regulations Act will invest RBI with supervisory powers over private companies that would enter the banking sector.

On October 30, at the credit policy announcement also, Subbarao had ruled out any short cuts when it came to issuing new bank licences. "We believed, we believe and we still believe that we need these powers to move forward," he had said, adding "an amendment to the Act is pending for giving us the necessary powers, authority and dispensation to deal with corporates entering the banking sector."

As per the RBI's draft norms released in August 2011, private sector entities or groups owned and controlled by domestic promoters, with diversified ownership, sound credentials and integrity, and having successful track record of at least 10 years, would be eligible to promote banks.

The norms have pegged the minimum capital required for promoting a bank at Rs 500 crore and restricted foreign shareholding at 49 per cent for the first five years of operation.

Also Read: Govt to launch direct cash subsidy transfer from Jan 1



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Re-feel recycles cartridge refills for greener tomorrow

Every year more than 350 million plastic printer cartridges are dumped in land fields worldwide and that is enough waste to cover football fields 17 times over. To make matters worse cartridges are made mostly of plastic and can take more than a thousand years to bio-degrade in a land field.

This reality has forced business to look at cartridge recycling and tapping into this nascent market is the foursome of Alkesh Agarwal, Samit Lakhotia, Amit Barmecha and Rajesh Agarwal, the team behind Re-feel cartridges. With a 120 stores in 85 cities in India Re-feel Cartridges is India's largest printer cartridge recycling and refilling chain.

While we would all like to switch to eco-friendly printing solutions, the increased cost of recyclable printers is a real road block. But a young quartet decided to convert this problem into an opportunity with the launch of Re-feel Cartridges, a company that recycles and refills printer cartridges without burning a hole in your wallet.

Founded by techpreneurs - Alkesh Agarwal, Samit Lakhotia, Amit Barmecha and Rajesh Agarwal in 2007 the venture has recycled over 10 lakh printer cartridges across India. The process is simple- Re-feel collects your old cartridge, refills it with out any loss in quality.

Alkesh Agarwal, says that Re-feel is about printer cartridge recycling. When we use a laser or an inkjet printer we use the cartridge and then throw it away in the land field. In this venture we collect empty cartridges, recycle them so they perform like original without compromising on quality and at the same time providing up to 75 percent benefit to the consumers.

Re-feel cartridges has 120 stores across 80 cities in India. On offer our services like refilling cartridges, selling re-manufactured cartridges, specialty paper for printing and even original cartridges. Operating on the franchise model Re-feel has 990 employees working across India and has clocked revenues of Rs 75 crore so far.

Training franchisees is the key to maintaining quality standards, says Agarwal.

"All franchisees need to visit our Head Office in Kolkata for training. Around 10-days training is given starting their retail stores and making it operational. We want to maintain proper standard all across our stores in India. We earn our royalties from franchisees and also from supplying them the necessary raw materials and required technicalities," says Alkesh.

Alkesh and his team also prevent old laptops from filling on landfills. With 100 stores across 60 cities in India Club Laptop is an eco-friendly franchise concept of multi brand laptop repair stores. Recognized for their eco-conscious efforts we feel Re-feel Cartridges has grabbed investor attention with Rs 25 crore coming in from TLG Capital, London but while the running is now smooth the initial days were not.

"The major challenge was relating to the industry- We were the first in the organized industry to establish ourselves that cartridge refilling can be done successfully and the product can be used without compromising on quality. Initially, our mantra was education through awareness. To make this brand successful, we educated corporates, SMEs that quality refilling can be done," says Alkesh.

This foursome is now ready to target new cities and towns and hopes to use the franchise model to serve up more Re-feel and Club Laptop stores. With a sizeable presence in India, Re-feel team is also looking at venturing into other South Asian countries over the next few years.


 



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No acquisition plans in China; positive on Europe ops: TCS

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 24 November 2012 | 23.25

Out performing some of biggest names in IT, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has emerged as the poster boy in the country. N Chandrasekaran, CEO, TCS, has been credited for transforming TCS India's largest IT services company into an even bigger juggernaut. CNBC-TV18 chats exclusively with N Chandrasekaran to find out his success formula.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

"All our initiatives are coming out of this paradigm," says N Chandrasekaran.

The 48-year old CEO recently won the stations Asia Business Leader Award admits that the turbulent business environment has made the job harder.

"There have been a large number of uncertainties; there have been issues with respect to economy, natural calamities, issues of different kinds, and coping with them is probably one of the biggest challenges," says N Chandrasekaran.

A company man for the past 25 years, Chandra has been known by its employees to streamline TCS into a sleek machine, restructuring this behemoth into 23 vertical-led units, improving decision making down the line and making each unit more accountable.

"In terms of number of people, TCS is a very large company, with about 2,50,000 professionals. I felt the need to have lot of agility. My view was that we can respond to the market better, be agile and grow if we have a mini organization setup with around 5,000 to 8,000 employees, a CEO, CFO and HR officers as a management team that can run the unit efficiently," says Chandrasekaran. 

Chandrasekaran also chased new markets such as small and medium sized enterprises.

Chandrasekaran: But we quite didn't know how to chase small and medium sized enterprises.

Q: Why was that?

Chandrasekaran: Because our company serves the Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 companies so all our customers are leaders in their respective industry. The deal sizes become very smaller when we go to small and medium business.

Q: You need to come up with different business models?

Chandrasekaran: Yes.

Q: Like what?

Chandrasekaran: There are some problems. Small and medium enterprise doesn't have money to invest - they don't like large capex, they cannot attract people and anyone who serves that market typically has a solution for large enterprises or kind of downsizes those solutions to offer it to small and medium businesses.

Considering all these factors we though if we can come up with the cloud model where we can have a standardised set of solutions for small and medium businesses on an operating cash flow basis then it would be attractive.

Under his leadership TCS' market value has doubled since 2009 and revenue jumped 24 percent in 2011 to USD 10 billion, outperforming its closest rival Wipro and Infosys .

Q: Despite global volatility, TCS has managed to post strong growth and earnings when there are question marks about technology spending coming from the US and Europe. How have you mitigated the headwinds, what are you doing right?

Chandrasekaran: The customer segment that we operate they are going through tough times, but at the same time they are investing in technology primarily due two reasons; first, they are revenue efficiencies and typically driving efficiency involves investing in technology to get better returns. Second, the rate of change in technology is dramatic.

Technologies like cloud paradigm, mobility and big data are fast evolving and it becomes extremely important for companies to re-imagine their businesses, processes in light of these technologies. So we are aligning ourselves with these two requirements and that's throwing up a lot of opportunities and resulting in growth.

Q: Your rivals have expressed concerns about the outlook. Do you think you can continue to outperform the industry?

Chandrasekaran: I don't like to predict about our out performance but we will do that. The tax spending will continue, the overall pie of the tech industry is increasing. Second, what we do as a company within that market continues to expand because we are investing in new areas and investing innovation or creating new capabilities what we are able to do today is definitely different and these things are driving growth fast.



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Some consolidation in banking space inevitable: Chidambaram

Stating some consolidation in the banking system was inevitable, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said India must have two or three world size banks. "Finding new business models will inevitably lead to some consolidation. We should not fear consolidation. I know there is pride and identity, but ultimately some consolidation would have to take place in the banking system in this country," he said at the Bancon-2012 meet here.

"We must create at least 2 or 3 world size banks. China has done it. And if India wants to be and as it will be the third largest economy in the world...we must also have one or two world size banks and some consolidation is inevitable," he said.

Chidambaram further said that while consolidation takes place among top banks, there would also be place for local area banks.

"In fact, I regret that the idea of the local area bank which was started in 1996 stopped after first three licences were given. I think there is place for a local area bank for serving people of the region, local area, drawing strength from those people and serving those people, he added.

Also read: Govt to launch direct cash subsidy transfer from Jan 1

Country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has acquired board approval for the merger of the its remaining five associates with itself. It has already amalgamated two of its subsidiaries.

SBI merged one of its associate, State Bank of Saurashtra, with itself in 2008 besides merging itself with State Bank of Indore in 2010.



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Italy PE fund, MM in race for Aston Martin: Source

Italian private equity fund Investindustrial and Indian car maker Mahindra have made competing bids for 50 percent of British luxury car maker Aston Martin with a deal expected over the weekend, a source close to the matter said on Friday.

Investindustrial reached a agreement with Kuwaiti investment house Investment Dar, which owns Aston Martin, on Thursday but afterwards Mahindra made a higher counter bid, the source said. "They are in talks. A deal is expected to be finalised over the weekend," the source said.

A spokesman for Investment Dar was not immediately available for comment, nor could Mahindra be reached for comment.

The source said Investindustrial had made a bid worth between 200 million and 250 million pounds (USD 400 million) for the stake and was confident in winning the race because its proposal was "technically" superior.

It said Investindustrial had agreed a technical partnership deal with Daimler AG's Mercedes.

Investindustrial, owned by Italy's Bonomi family, is not new to luxury motor brands. In 2006, it bought Italian motorcycle maker Ducati and sold it for about 860 million euros last April to Volkswagen's Audi division.



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NASSCOM felicitates 50 innovative, emerging companies

Software body NASSCOM is committed to recognising innovative start ups since 2009 and it felicitates the top 50 emerging companies every year with NASSCOM Emerge 50 Awards. Its objective is to recognise, mentor and guide these emerging companies.

National Association for Software and Services Company (NASSCOM) kicked off the ninth edition of the 'Product Conclave 2012', in Bangalore. It is Asia's biggest platform for technology entrepreneurship, the product conclave over 1400 delegates participate and exchange ideas. The highlight was the Emerge 10 Awards for the ten best emerging companies of 2012 were felicitated.

The NASSCOM Emerge 10 companies are as follows:-

B2R (Business to rural)
It is quite literally transforming lives in Uttarakhand. B2R is a rural BPO. It provides knowledge based business support services mainly data crunching. In three years has grown from a 22 member team to 235 members and from one centre to five centres. Dhiraj Dolwani is the co-founder and ceo of B2R Technologies.

Vzury Interactive Solutions
It was founded by Chetan Kulkarni. It is a digital CRM company focused on empowering online businesses to engage with their customers. The product, Visitor Relationship Management delivers personalised ads converting website visitor drop-offs into customers with a data driven approach.

Foradian Technologies Limited
It is betting big on the education sector. Unni Krishnan of Foradian Technologies has built and open source enterprise, a school management system which provides an efficient way to manage an institutions and its data.

Rolocule
Anuj Tandon and Rohit Gupta decided to turn their passion for gaming into serious business and rolocule was born in 2010. Creating simple to play games for smart phones and tablets, rolocule games have already touched more than 1.6 million downloads in over 100 countries.

IKen
As more and more businesses are shifting their focus towards customer centricity, the demand for personalised analysis (not sure) has only increased. Betting big on this opportunity, Siddharth Goyal's found 'iKen".

With a number of mobile phones in India crossing the 900 million mark this year, more and more startups are betting big on the mobile telephony business both in terms of applications for smart phones and other tech related enhancements. Here are the next five startups from the NASSCOM emerge ten 2012 companies that are betting on mobile telephony, innovation and cloud based technology.

Knowlarity Communications
Ambarish Gupta and Pallav Pandey started Knowlarity Communications in 2009 with a dream to provide SMEs and enterprise innovative, inexpensive cloud telephony based products. Knowlarity is targeting a turnover of Rs 30 crore in the next fiscal.

mCarbon
Another company providing telephone based solutions in the value-added services space is mCarbon. Founded in 2008 by Rajesh Razdan and Brij Mohan Mahendru, mCarbon delivers contexts of well offerings that allow communication service providers like Airtel, Vodafone and Docomo to create and deliver smarter and valuable services like 'do not disturb' and 'manage your call'.

Reverie Language Technologies
Taking into account the digital explosion and increasing reach of mobile phones Arvind Pani founded Reverie Language Technologies in 2009. This enables text communication for complex languages on digital platforms like mobile phones, tablets, set-top boxes and navigation devices. Currently supporting 32 languages including 22 Indian languages Reverie clocked a turnover of Rs 1 crore last year.

Knolskape
Founded by Rajiv Jayaraman in 2008 Knolskape is a serious gaming and simulation company focused on training managers and aspiring management students at top B-schools. With clients in south East Asia, India, Middle East and the US, Knolskape creates multimedia case studies with immersive storylines for learners who go on to the next level after solving the previous ones. With a turnover of Rs 3 crore Rajiv wants to transform classrooms and boardrooms using innovative technology.

Asteor Software
Co-founded by Shankar Krishnamoorthy, Asteor Software offers software as a service or offers a software delivery model in which software is hosted on cloud. Having roped in ten customers so far and touching revenues of Rs 66 lakh Shankar and his team hope to touch Rs 1.4 crore this year and breakeven by 2015.



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FM asks RBI to start issuing new bank licences

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today made it clear to RBI that it has the powers to issue new bank licences and expressed the hope it will take the process forward "appreciating" government's position.

"Let me emphasise that the three powers that RBI want are already there with the RBI. It is already there in the regulation; it is there in the powers to grant the banking licences.

"I am sure the RBI acknowledges and appreciates the well-considered position of the Government and will take the process forward," he told reporters after inaugurating the two -day annual national banking summit (Bancon 2012) here. (Watch full speech)

The Finance Minister said amendments to the Act are simply to formalise powers that the Central bank is seeking and bring them together into the legislation.

Last week, after Chidambaram asked the regulator to start the process of issuing the much-delayed new banking licences, on November 16, RBI Governor D Subbarao had said it would be not possible without fulfilling the enabling conditions.

Asked whether RBI has formally responded to the Ministry that new licences could not be issued without the Bill being passed, Chidambaram said, "well, I don't know if a formal reply has been received to the letter that we sent 10 days ago. I don't know what their formal position is."

Asked whether he is confident of getting the Act passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, the Minister replied in the affirmative.

"I am pretty confident that the Banking Regulation Act will be passed as early as possible," Chidambaram said. 

"Even if the RBI picks up the thread and resumes the process that was started about a year ago of finalising the guidelines and issuing the first licence, that is going to take six to eight months and the occasion to invoke these extraordinary powers will not come the next day," he said.

"The occasion to invoke these extraordinary powers will come only when that bank does something wrong. And that is not going to happen one day after the licence is granted.

"Therefore, by the time the occasion arises, the powers will be there in the Banking Regulation Act. So as stated by the then Finance Minister's Budget speech, we must take the process of finalising the guidelines and receiving applications for new bank licences as early as possible," Chidambaram said.

The RBI is seeking powers to supersede the board of an erring bank, to authorise acquisition of shares beyond 5 percent in a bank holding company, and an exit policy in case of irregularities.

On November 15, Chidambaram said he had asked RBI to finalise the guidelines for new licences and start accepting applications for the same pending passage of the Banking Regulations Bill.

The last time the RBI allowed new private banks was in 2002 prior to which it allowed new players in 1991-92.

The RBI issued the final guidelines for new banks in August 2011, including those floated by corporates, but is waiting for the necessary legal powers before it proceeds further. The bank licences were initially slated to be issued way bank in 2008-09.

However, the Finance Ministry wants RBI to speed up the process, under provisions of the Companies Act, without waiting for amendments to the existing banking laws, in its effort to create a positive sentiment among investors and the industry.

The amendments to the Banking Regulations Act will invest RBI with supervisory powers over private companies that would enter the banking sector.

On October 30, at the credit policy announcement also, Subbarao had ruled out any short cuts when it came to issuing new bank licences. "We believed, we believe and we still believe that we need these powers to move forward," he had said, adding "an amendment to the Act is pending for giving us the necessary powers, authority and dispensation to deal with corporates entering the banking sector."

As per the RBI's draft norms released in August 2011, private sector entities or groups owned and controlled by domestic promoters, with diversified ownership, sound credentials and integrity, and having successful track record of at least 10 years, would be eligible to promote banks.

The norms have pegged the minimum capital required for promoting a bank at Rs 500 crore and restricted foreign shareholding at 49 per cent for the first five years of operation.

Also Read: Govt to launch direct cash subsidy transfer from Jan 1



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Re-feel recycles cartridge refills for greener tomorrow

Every year more than 350 million plastic printer cartridges are dumped in land fields worldwide and that is enough waste to cover football fields 17 times over. To make matters worse cartridges are made mostly of plastic and can take more than a thousand years to bio-degrade in a land field.

This reality has forced business to look at cartridge recycling and tapping into this nascent market is the foursome of Alkesh Agarwal, Samit Lakhotia, Amit Barmecha and Rajesh Agarwal, the team behind Re-feel cartridges. With a 120 stores in 85 cities in India Re-feel Cartridges is India's largest printer cartridge recycling and refilling chain.

While we would all like to switch to eco-friendly printing solutions, the increased cost of recyclable printers is a real road block. But a young quartet decided to convert this problem into an opportunity with the launch of Re-feel Cartridges, a company that recycles and refills printer cartridges without burning a hole in your wallet.

Founded by techpreneurs - Alkesh Agarwal, Samit Lakhotia, Amit Barmecha and Rajesh Agarwal in 2007 the venture has recycled over 10 lakh printer cartridges across India. The process is simple- Re-feel collects your old cartridge, refills it with out any loss in quality.

Alkesh Agarwal, says that Re-feel is about printer cartridge recycling. When we use a laser or an inkjet printer we use the cartridge and then throw it away in the land field. In this venture we collect empty cartridges, recycle them so they perform like original without compromising on quality and at the same time providing up to 75 percent benefit to the consumers.

Re-feel cartridges has 120 stores across 80 cities in India. On offer our services like refilling cartridges, selling re-manufactured cartridges, specialty paper for printing and even original cartridges. Operating on the franchise model Re-feel has 990 employees working across India and has clocked revenues of Rs 75 crore so far.

Training franchisees is the key to maintaining quality standards, says Agarwal.

"All franchisees need to visit our Head Office in Kolkata for training. Around 10-days training is given starting their retail stores and making it operational. We want to maintain proper standard all across our stores in India. We earn our royalties from franchisees and also from supplying them the necessary raw materials and required technicalities," says Alkesh.

Alkesh and his team also prevent old laptops from filling on landfills. With 100 stores across 60 cities in India Club Laptop is an eco-friendly franchise concept of multi brand laptop repair stores. Recognized for their eco-conscious efforts we feel Re-feel Cartridges has grabbed investor attention with Rs 25 crore coming in from TLG Capital, London but while the running is now smooth the initial days were not.

"The major challenge was relating to the industry- We were the first in the organized industry to establish ourselves that cartridge refilling can be done successfully and the product can be used without compromising on quality. Initially, our mantra was education through awareness. To make this brand successful, we educated corporates, SMEs that quality refilling can be done," says Alkesh.

This foursome is now ready to target new cities and towns and hopes to use the franchise model to serve up more Re-feel and Club Laptop stores. With a sizeable presence in India, Re-feel team is also looking at venturing into other South Asian countries over the next few years.


 



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Rail Neer packaged drinking water to cost more

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 23 November 2012 | 23.25

Travellers will have to pay more for the packaged drinking water supplied by the Railways in trains and platforms. The Railways ministry has given the clearance to a proposal to increase the rate of packaged drinking water- Rail Neer- from Rs 12 to Rs 15 per one litre bottle. The price of the 500 ml bottle will be increased from Rs 8 to Rs 10, as per the decision.

" The IRCTC, which manufactures and supplies the packaged drinking water at railway premises, had sought the ministry's approval for revising the rate of Rail Neer and we have given the approval for the same," said a senior Railways ministry official.

Now, it is upto the IRCTC to finalise a date for implementation of the new rate, the official said. IRCTC, a subsidiary under the Railway ministry, is currently manufacturing Rail Neer at three locations - Nangloi (Delhi), Danapur (Bihar) and Palur (near Chennai) with a cumulative production capacity of 3.80 lakh bottles (1 litre capacity) per day.

According to IRCTC, the demand for Rail Neer at railway stations has increased steadily and there is a huge gap between the existing production capacity of the plants and the demand. In order to cater to the growing demand for hygienic drinking water in trains and platforms, IRCTC has decided to augment the manufacture and supply of Rail Neer and plans are afoot to set up more manufacturing plants.

"While one plant each is coming up in Mumbai and Delhi, two plants each are being planned in Hyderabad and Nagpur," said a senior IRCTC official.



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TDAST asks Aircel pay a fee of 5 paise/SMS to Vodafone

TDSAT today directed Aircel to pay SMS termination fee of 5 paise per message to Vodafone till the dispute is finally resolved by the tribunal. Vodafone has also been directed to immediately restore its interconnection of SMSes generated on Aircel's network.

Passing an interim order, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) asked Aircel to pay 5 paise, half of Vodafone's demand of 10 paise per SMS as termination fee.

Termination charges are paid by an operator on whose network calls or SMSes originate to the one on whose network these communications end. These charges impact tariffs. A single-member bench of P K Rastogi was of view that if SMS services between the two operators are disconnected then the consumers would suffer.

"Therefore, keeping in view the interest of both the parties, pending final hearing, it is directed that SMS services of the petitioner (Aircel) shall not be disconnected and wherever disconnection has taken place, the same will be restored immediately subject to the condition that petitioner will start paying 50 percent of the amount demanded by the respondent (Vodafone) at 10 paise per SMS on net inflow of traffic basis," the interim order said.

"There is a need to examine whether the rate of termination charges demanded by the respondent (Vodafone) are in accordance with the regulation, and whether such charges are transparent, reciprocal and nondiscriminatory," it further said.

The tribunal also asked Vodafone to file a reply to Aircel's plea within three weeks. It also granted two weeks time to Aircel to file the rejoinder. The matter has been listed for January 10, 2013 for final hearing.

In October, Vodafone had demanded Rs 40 crore as SMS termination fee plus applicable tax for the period between April 2011 to September 2012, which was opposed by Aircel. Vodafone had asked Aircel to clear the dues within 15 days that is by November 9, 2012. It had also disconnected the SMS termination facility in 5 circles.

It was opposed by Aircel contending that arrangement between them for SMS services was on "bill and keep basis" and Vodafone had unilaterally proposed charging 10 paise SMS termination, which was "arbitrary and illogical".



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OPGC expansion secures financial tie up with PFC REC

Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) today signed a loan agreement with Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation for financing its proposed expansion project of 1320 MW thermal power plant.

OPGC, which already has two thermal power units of 210 MW each in Ib Valley area, would add generation of 1,320 MW electricity by expanding third and fourth units having capacity of 660 MW each.

The expansion project including development of captive coal mine and railway transportation system has taken a major leap with finalisation of the financing arrangement with PFC and REC, Energy Secretary P K Jena said.

The funding of the expansion project with an estimated total cost of Rs 11,547 crore is based on a Debt to Equity ratio of 75:25. The debt component of Rs 8660 crore has been agreed to be financed in the ratio of 50:50 by PFC and REC on a long term basis to be recovered over a period of 20 years, Jena said.

The loan agreement with PFC and REC was executed by OPGC Managing Director Venkatachalam Kuppusami and the representatives of PFC and REC in a signing ceremony formally organised for the purpose here. PFC CMD Satnam Singh and Director Finance REC Ajeet Agarwal were also present in the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Jena said the OPGC's expansion project had obtained various clearances and permits. Land acquisition for mines and exclusive railway corridor are under progress through the state run IDCO (industrial infrastracture development corporation).

"Recently the project got the major boost with the grant of stage-I forest clearance and environment clearance for the captive mine," said OPGC MD venkatachalam K. The evaluation of the EPC (engineering procurement and construction) tendering for procurement of main plant equipments and award of erection thereof along with balance of plant and ancillary facilities is under progress, the OPGC MD said.

"If project activities move as per schedule, the construction is expected to start in early 2013," the MD said adding that OPGC has already entered into a long term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with GRIDCO (grid corporation of Orissa) for sale of 660MW power and applied for long term open access for direct sale of balance 660MW.

Earlier, PFC chairman Satnam Singh met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at secretariat and discussed about projects of Odisha Integrated Power Limited which planned setting up a 4,000 MW coal based power plant in Sundergarh district.



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